Library director to retire

For the past 13 years, Sue Rainey has been the guiding force of the Darlington County Library System, which includes the main library in Darlington and branches in Hartsville, Lamar and Society.

Rainey is poised to retire July 1.

As she prepares to leave, Rainey said she will definitely miss the patrons and friends she has made through her career in Darlington County.

From her office in Darlington, Rainey said, "I'm of that age."

However, Rainey said she has such mixed emotions about leaving, especially now that it appears the start of Society Hill's new library could be coming to fruition soon.

Rainey said there was delay after delay with getting the funding and now it might be coming as soon as Monday night.

"I didn't know that when I decided to retire," said Rainey as she perused the drawings for the new library. She said rest assured she will be watching that project as it moves forward.

Although Rainey said she didn't want to delay her retirement for several years, which it might take to complete the project, she would have liked to have seen it get started.

Rainey considers acquiring the funding for the addition to the Hartsville Memorial Library so soon after the new library was built as one of her greatest career accomplishments.

She said the library building was only about six years old when they realized Hartsville was already outgrowing its new library. An additional 4,000 square feet was added.

"It added a lot to the community," Rainey said.

She noted that there were many individuals who played key roles in that accomplishment.

Rainey said during her time as director Lamar also received a new 4,200 -square-foot library.

"It has meant so much to that community," she said.

One of the most significant changes in the library system since Rainey started, she said, has to be the technology.

Computers have changed the way they do things, she said.

"Thirteen years ago we had two computers in our system," Rainey said.

There was one in Darlington and one in Hartsville. Now there are 75 computers in the system used by staff and the public.

During her early career in Hilton Head, Rainey said she met numerous authors and helped them with research. She is even mentioned in the front of some books for her assistance. Author John Jakes is one who has listed her as contributing to his research.

"I've done about what I set out to do," she said of her career in Darlington County.

Rainey said, “(We) didn't always get the money we wanted, but we have done pretty well."

Rainey said about 350,000 items go out of the library system county-wide per year, and about 320,000 visitors come through their doors in a year's time.
That is impressive.

"Every library is different," Rainey said. "Someone had to select, order, process and put the books on the shelf."

She said that makes each library unique because no two will have exactly the same books.

Now that she is retiring, Rainey hopes to spend more time reading some of those books that she helped choose.

Her favorites are mysteries. Her favorite author is Michael Connelly.

Rainey said she couldn't say any one book is the most widely requested in the Darlington County Library System today, but there was a time when she would have said "Final Truth," a story about Pee Wee Gaskins.

Rainey may be counting the days to retirement, but her patrons are not looking forward to the day. One patron, Susan Bridgers, who frequents the Darlington library, was there on Wednesday.

She said, "I'm counting the days with tears in my eyes."

As Gena Campbell was leaving the library with a bag full of books for her and her husband, she commented, "I think the world of Sue."

Rainey may be leaving the job behind, but she won't be far away from the library and the books she dearly loves.

She said there is stack of books near her bed waiting to be read. Maybe now she will have the time.